A few months ago, someone asked me if I had a recipe for a vegetarian version of Chicken and Dumplings. There are a lot of dishes on my mental list of things to make meatless, but that’s one that I never really thought about, mostly because I’ve never had Chicken and Dumplings before. I forgot…
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http://www.thinpedia.com/chickpeas-and-dumplings.html
You can make juicy, tempting vegan gyros at home, minus the animal fat, the strange mish-mash of meat-ish substances and the nagging worry about how long that conical slab has been slowly rotating on its spit.
http://www.thinpedia.com/vegan-tempeh-gyros-with-tofu-tzatziki.html
These vegan enchiladas are packed with chunky salsa of avocado, tomato, onion, and cilantro, mixed with a walnut taco meat, spiced with cumin and coriander, all wrapped up in raw tomato-corn tortillas and covered in a creamy cashew cheese sauce.
http://www.thinpedia.com/raw-vegan-enchiladas-with-chunky-salsa-cheesy-sauce-and-spicy-nut-meat.html
How do you decide what flavours go well together? What are some tasty combinations that are not obvious? The Flavour Thesaurus by Niki Segnit aims to answer questions like these. What a wonderful book! She breaks foods down into 99 flavours and arranges them on a wheel in categories such as earthy, green and grassy, and floral fruity. Each of the 99 flavours has a chapter in which Segnit discusses pairings with the other flavours. Not all of the possible 9702 pairings are discussed – but the book is extensive, useful, and highly entertaining.
The Flavour Thesaurus was our Kitchen Reader book for January. I have owned it for about a year, though, and I’ve often found myself relaxing with a cup of tea and this book. Each flavour pairing is discussed in five or so sentences, with anecdotes and ideas, and quite a few recipes from restaurants or world cuisines.
The writing is often hilarious. For example, “Asparagus and Peanut: This might seem as incongruous as playing darts in a ballgown, but the rich, meaty flavour of asparagus is, in fact, very good with peanuts, especially when given an Asian inflection.” Or consider this mention of lamb and artichoke stew: “The only drawback… is having to peel and chop globe artichokes. You end up looking as if you’ve been playing patty-cake with Edward Scissorhands. You could use canned or frozen artichokes, but don’t. They’re no substitute in either flavour or textural terms. Like beauty, flavour is pain.”
I have been inspired by many of the pairing paragraphs. I want to try a salad that was presented by French polymath Paul Reboux more than eighty years ago. It is made with “lettuce leaves and sliced cooked potatoes in a creamy dressing, garnished with orange zest and carrots, both cut into one-inch lengths and ‘as thin as pine needles.’ This, claims Reboux, is guaranteed to capture the attention of the gourmand. ‘Orange? Carrot? How is it that the orange tastes of carrot and the carrot of orange?’ A game for the palate to play.”
Tangentially related to flavour combinations, I am going to spend the next month on a Shop Your Wardrobe Challenge (pdf), and the first day is to put together two colours I have never combined before. And so I wore this teal and blue outfit, perhaps not as unusual as asparagus and peanut, but new for me. As is this cauliflower and walnut salad (recipe below).
The Kitchen Reader is a food-related online book club. In February we are reading Below Stairs: The Classic Kitchen Maid’s Story that Inspired Upstairs, Downstairs and Downton Abbey by Margaret Powell. New members are always welcome.
Cauliflower and Walnut Saladserves 1adapted from The Flavour Thesaurus
200 g cauliflower1 medjool date1/4 c (35 g) walnuts2/3 c (165 ml) sour cream2 t lemon1/4 t sea salt1/4 t pepper
Chop the cauliflower into bite-sized pieces.Finely chop the date and walnuts and mix with the cauliflower.Mix the remaining ingredients to make a dressing. You may not need all of the dressing, so start by mixing half into the cauliflower salad.
Do you have a favourite flavour pairing that is not obvious?
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http://www.thinpedia.com/the-flavour-thesaurus-by-niki-segnit-and-cauliflower-and-walnut-salad.html
Egg-Crust Vegetarian Breakfast Pizza has a lot of pizza toppings on an eggy crust.
(This Egg Crust Vegetarian Breakfast Pizza that’s also perfect for Meatless Monday is today’s pick for the month of Daily Phase One Recipes. You can see all the recipes from the month by clicking Daily Phase One Recipes. Check after the recipe for Phase One Flashbacks from this day in 2012 and 2013.)
When I posted my Egg-Crust Breakfast Pizza with Pepperoni, Olives, Mozzarella, and Tomatoes a few people asked why it was not called a Frittata. (If you’re not familiar with Frittatas, they’re a type of Italian omelet that’s cooked partly on the stove and then finished under the broiler.) These Breakfast Pizzas that I’m having fun experimenting with are made with just two eggs and the egg is about half cooked before the pizza topping ingredients are layered on top. Then the Breakfast Pizza is cooked for a few minutes with a lid on and browned under the broiler so the cheese is melted and golden-brown. There are similarities, but frittatas have much more egg in proportion to other ingredients, while the egg part of the Breakfast Pizza really is more like a “crust” with the other ingredients added on top. This vegetarian version of a Breakfast Pizza was just as delicious as the first one, and I’d enjoy this for a Meatless Monday breakfast, lunch, or dinner.
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http://www.thinpedia.com/egg-crust-vegetarian-breakfast-pizza.html
“It’s funny: I always imagined when I was a kid that adults had some kind of inner toolbox full of shiny tools: the saw of discernment, the hammer of wisdom, the sandpaper of patience. But then when I grew up I found that life handed you these rusty bent old tools – friendships, prayer, conscience, honesty – and said ‘do the best you can with these, they will have to do’. And mostly, against all odds, they do.”―Anne Lamott
I feel very adult this week. We bought a crib and we made an offer on another house and our health care got more complicated and expensive and I’m trying to read books about birth without my chest tightening so much I feel faint and that quote makes me feel better about the normality of all this. There is a beautiful mess in the figuring out of things. I’m scared. About everything, and mostly without reason, but when I do get stressed, I can typically trace it back to fear. Fear of failing, of loosing or of being in pain. My dad met with me a few nights back so I could show him my numbers for our potential house purchase and he could confirm it was a good idea… at least on paper. I think I just wanted his blessing for the biggest purchase of our lives, even if this whole thing doesn’t go through. I get a lot of my worry tendencies from my dad, and it felt nice to have someone of like mind, 30 years ahead in this game, tell me it was going to be OK. Maybe we’ll have super tight months or there will be a huge leak in the floor or our new neighbor will be creepy or maybe this will be the house we slowly make ours and grow old in, but no matter how the story goes, it will all be OK. How come that is so easy to overlook? Today, I will believe it.
A sweet mom-to-be asked me for a few suggestions on freezer meals she could prepare in advance while waiting for her wee one to arrive. I realized that while clicking through our site, I don’t have many options. A good handful of breakfast baked goods that could freeze well, but a limited amount of stone cold meals as I look back. I had a pretty good response to the lentil meatballs from years ago which also made it into the last cookbook, so I figured I’d try something similar to that. In the same way I make my veggie patties, I start with nearly a 1:1 ratio of cooked grains and legumes (in this case, brown rice and lentils) and then I build from there. Always garlic. Usually onion, either raw or cooked. I use egg to help bind here, but I’ll often use cheese for binding power as well. I blitz in a ton of herbs, a cooked vegetable and bold spices and flavor to doctor them up. For this Asian nugget, I went with soy sauce, sesame seeds and chili sauce. Miso would be great in there too but I wanted to save that for the sauce. All veggie balls need a good sauce. A veggie ball is really only good with a sauce, if you ask me, but I think you could put them along with anything that sounds good to you.
ASIAN NUGGETS WITH SAUTEED VEGGIES + TAHINI SAUCE // Serves 4-6
The Asian nuggets can be completely cooled and frozen in plastic bags until needed. I got about 26 nuggets. This just leaves you with needing to prepare veggies and sauce which could be whipped up in 15 minutes.
As for substitutes, I think you may be able to replace the egg with flax meal and a little water but they may come out a little drier. To keep them gluten free, replace the panko with a coarse oat flour but note they will be more delicate to work with. If going the GF route, I would try to keep the egg in, if possible, to keep everything together.
3 cloves garlic
1/2 a yellow onion, roughly chopped
2 eggs
2 tablespoons soy sauce or tamari
2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
2 tablespoons sambal oelek (chili paste)
2 cups cooked and completely cooled brown rice
1 1/2 cup cooked and cooled lentils (a few varieties will do though I’d avoid red and green, they get too soft)
1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
1 bunch of cilantro
pinch of salt
sesame seeds, for garnish
/ veggies /
1 tablespoon sesame oil, as needed
3 green onions, roughly chopped
5 ounces shitake mushrooms, halved or quartered if large
1 head broccoli
splash of rice wine vinegar
pinch of sea salt
/ tahini sauce /
1 minced clove garlic
1/2 cup tahini
2 teaspoons white or yellow miso
2 tablespoons orange juice
squeeze of fresh lemon juice or splash of rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon maple syrup or honey
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
fresh ground pepper
Preheat the oven to 375′. Line a baking sheet with parchment.
In a food processor, combine the garlic, onion, eggs, sesame oil, tamari or soy sauce and chili paste and pulse a few times until the onion and garlic are well chopped. Add the rice, lentils, panko, cilantro, pinch of salt and pulse a few more times until just combined. You want to still distinguish nubs of rice, but it should look pasty enough that you could roll it in a ball. Let the mix sit for ten minutes.
Roll the dough into 2” balls and line them up on the baking sheet. Brush them with a thin coat of oil and sprinkle them with sesame seeds. Bake on the middle rack for 15-18 minutes until browned and dry on the outsides.
For the veggies, in a large skillet, heat the sesame oil. Add the green onions, mushrooms and a pinch salt and saute for 4-5 minutes until just softened. Roughly chop the broccoli and add it to the pan along with a splash of rice vinegar and saute another 5-10 minutes until softened to your taste.
For the sauce, whisk all ingredients together until smooth and set aside. The sauce can be made up to three days in advance and kept covered in the fridge.
Assemble your meal with a scoop of veggie, some asian nuggets and a generous drizzle of tahini sauce.
* All photos in this post were shot with film
http://www.thinpedia.com/asian-nuggets-with-sauteed-veggies-tahini-sauce.html
I’ve been making this chili for years, and it’s too good to save just for the Superbowl!
We still have a few weeks before Superbowl Madness takes over the U.S. but I thought it would be fun to update the photos of this favorite Not Just for the Superbowl Chili as today’s pick for the month of Daily Phase One Recipes. For years this was my signature chili recipe for Denny family Superbowl parties, and it got the name when we decided the chili was too good to save just for the Superbowl! (You can see all the Phase One recipes from the month by clicking Daily Phase One Recipes. Check after the recipe for Phase One Flashbacks from this day in 2012 and 2013.)
If you’re not a native English speaker, you might wonder about the word *chili*. In the U.S. *chile* usually refers to the spicy vegetable peppers used to season foods, while the spelling *chili* means a slowly simmered dish made with meat, tomatoes, onions, spices and sometimes beans. My signature chili is heavy on the meat and light on the beans, and although there’s a long list of ingredients, it’s actually pretty easy to make. This chili features both mushrooms and black olives, for a slightly different take on chili, and i like it with a lot of finely chopped cilantro added at the end. (My family has some cilantro haters though, so the cilantro is definitely optional!) I made half the recipe to update these photos, but this freezes well, so make the whole batch if you have a pot that’s big enough. And although Not Just for the Superbowl Chili may have more saturated fat than the South Beach Diet would prefer, for Superbowl food, this is pretty healthy. (Check South Beach Suggestions for a way to reduce the saturated fat.)
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http://www.thinpedia.com/not-just-for-the-superbowl-chili-recipe.html
Leftovers tend to pile up at my house, but these Turkey Picadillo Lettuce Wraps were gone the next day!
I’m a firm believer that you can never have too many recipes for lettuce wraps, and they’re something I always enjoy when I’m doing Phase One. Through the years I’ve made so many lettuce wrap variations that I’d have a hard time choosing a favorite, but these Turkey Picadillo Lettuce Wraps were definitely amazing. Ground turkey is simmered with onion, green pepper, tomatoes, chicken stock, and spices, with some chopped green olives and a generous amount of Green Tabasco Sauce giving it just enough zip to make it interesting. The word Picadillo comes from a Spanish word that means “to mince” and many countries have their own version of this ground meat dish, but the use of olives makes this recipe lean towards Cuban Picadillo.
(Of course this new Phase One recipe is today’s contribution for our month of Daily Phase One Recipes. You can see all the recipes from the month by clicking Daily Phase One Recipes. Check after the recipe for Phase One Flashbacks from this day in 2012 and 2013.)
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http://www.thinpedia.com/turkey-picadillo-lettuce-wraps.html
This Cauliflower and Mushroom Soup with Parmesan was made in my new electric pressure cooker!
A few years ago I bought a Kuhn Rikon Pressure Cooker, and shared a few Pressure Cooker Recipes on the blog. So when my sister Pam got a new Cuisinart Electric Pressure Cooker, and my friend Barbara started a blog about using the electric pressure cooker, I really didn’t think I needed another pressure cooker. Then I got a couple of Amazon gift cards, and the next thing you know, a new electric pressure cooker arrived at my house! So far I’ve only used it to make chicken stock, and then this amazing soup, but I’m already pretty infatuated with the new electric pressure cooker. If I had to pick one feature, it would be the way you can set the time and walk away, knowing the pressure cooker will stop cooking and release the pressure, even if you forget about it.
Since there’s no flour, butter, milk, or cream, this delicious Pressure Cooker Cauliflower and Mushroom Soup with Parmesan is perfect for our month of Daily Phase One Recipes, and it’s also my Meatless Monday recipe for the week. (You can see all the Phase One Recipes from the month by clicking Daily Phase One Recipes. Check after the recipe for Phase One Flashbacks from this day in 2012 and 2013.)
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http://www.thinpedia.com/cauliflower-and-mushroom-pressure-cooker-soup-with-parmesan.html
This delicious Slow Cooker Southwestern Pot Roast has only five ingredients!
(Today’s pick for the month of Daily Phase One Recipes is this delicious CrockPot Southwestern Pot Roast that I’ve made many times since I first posted it back in 2008. I need to update this recipe with step-by-step photos, but actually this recipe is so easy you probably don’t need them! You can see all the recipes from the month by clicking Daily Phase One Recipes. Check after the recipe for Phase One Flashbacks from this day in 2012 and 2013.)
This is one of my Easy South Beach Recipes (with only 5 ingredients) that uses canned beef broth and salsa add southwestern flavor to pot roast that gets tender and flavorful in the slow cooker. Please don’t skip the preparation steps of browning the roast and reducing the beef broth on the stove before you add it to the slow cooker, because both those steps add a lot of flavor here. You can do that the night before if you’d like, and then put the browned meat, broth, and salsa in the slow cooker to cook all day on low while you’re at work.
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http://www.thinpedia.com/crockpot-recipe-for-southwestern-pot-roast.html
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